Keywords: Policy, Impact, Activism, Exploratory, Diversity, Qualitative, Quantitative, Historical, Contemporary
Summary of plan
The group found the broad title a useful entry point to develop more specific sub-themes. The idea of building on existing research activities through enhanced communications in conjunction with a mapping exercise of research interests, was considered essential for developing a collaborative network and move away from siloed working patterns.
Suggested focus and ambitions of theme |
Broad theme with more specific sub-themes:
More specific sub-themes could focus on: 1. Direct engagement with policy and impact:
2. Engagement between qualitative and quantitative methods: traditional ways of working keep researchers in disciplinary silos. Would like to see more exchange/interdisciplinary engagement where researchers come together who are working on the same topic but use different methods to explore it, both at the research and impact levels. 3. Exploratory research: While making social change is aspirational, there should also be a room or a gap between research/understanding/not immediate and activism/impact/action to allow for further research. Sometimes the most effective impact comes from research that might appear arcane/historical/may not seem relevant.
Link up with Historical Legacies of the Past/Historical Transitions theme: Worth thinking about current and future transformation. Topic also invites past transformations as well. |
Benefits for collaboration under umbrella of theme |
Knowing Who’s Who: Who is out there to contact? What are other researchers doing? Who is involved in what? A mapping exercise would be useful. Someone did a mapping exercise with all researchers involved with Net Zero which was extremely useful. Not knowing who does what [meaning academics] is an internal barrier to networking. Understanding Diversity can only be achieved by enabling disciplinary approaches to discuss topics that affect development and reproduce inequalities. It is an understanding of this diversity, with broad theoretical perspectives that can help us to bring marginalised knowledges at the forefront of research. It is by disrupting current practices that we can generate meaningful change. |